1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to the field of tracking the position of vehicles and monitoring the systems of such vehicles, and relates more specifically to the field of tracking the position of sea-going commercial and pleasure vessels and monitoring the on-board system of such vessels.
2. Prior Art
Currently, the tracking of vehicles most often takes the form of plans in which the vehicle operators plan a route and file the route plan with the appropriate authority and logs in which the vehicle operators log in when and where the vehicle was for a certain time period and the actual course the vehicle transverses. While this type of tracking is inexpensive, it is dependent on the vehicle operator, who may not always be, or want to be, completely accurate.
Other forms of tracking methods include devices such as the Lo-Jack® device that, when activated, sends a radio signal that can be received by tracking devices. While this type of tracking method has had much success, it does not provide the exact positioning of the vehicle, but only provides the position of the vehicle relative to the tracking receiver. This device is covered by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,908,629, 4,818,998, and 4,177,466.
The Global Positioning System (GPS) has added another dimension to tracking vehicles. Through the use of a relatively inexpensive receiver, one can determine exactly where the receiver is anywhere in the world. GPS receivers can be attached to transceivers to transmit the GPS receiver's location to a remote receiver, thus effectively tracking any vehicle in which the GPS receiver is located. Some GPS receivers are covered by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,654,718, 5,936,553, and 6,076,039.
While there are many different types of tracking devices, not all are suitable for use with vehicles and even fewer are suitable for use with sea-going vessels. Additionally, tracking devices including GPS receivers alone cannot also monitor the mechanical, electrical and/or hydraulic systems of a vehicle. Vessel systems monitoring can be a desirable addition, especially remote vessel systems monitoring.
Thus, it can be seen that there exists a need for a relatively low-cost, simple to use and operate, reliable system for tracking the position and monitoring the systems of vehicles. There especially is a need for such a system for tracking the position and monitoring the on-board systems of sea-going vessels, which cannot simply pull off to the side of the road or into the nearest service station or rest area. The present invention is directed to these needs.